National Standards in Economics

Name: Allocation

Standard: 3

Students will understand that: Different methods can be used to allocate goods and services. People acting individually or collectively must choose which methods to use to allocate different kinds of goods and services.

Students will be able to use this knowledge to: Evaluate different methods of allocating goods and services, by comparing the benefits to the costs of each method.

Name: Decision Making

Standard: 2

Students will understand that: Effective decision making requires comparing the additional costs of alternatives with the additional benefits. Many choices involve doing a little more or a little less of something: few choices "are all or nothing" decisions.

Students will be able to use this knowledge to: Make effective decisions as consumers, producers, savers, investors, and citizens.

Name: Interest Rates

Standard: 12

Students will understand that: Interest rates, adjusted for inflation, rise and fall to balance the amount saved with the amount borrowed, which affects the allocation of scarce resources between present and future uses.

Students will be able to use this knowledge to: Explain situations in which they pay or receive interest, and explain how they would react to changes in interest rates if they were making or receiving interest payments.

National Standards in Financial Literacy

Name: Financial Investing

Standard:

Students will understand that: Financial investment is the purchase of financial assets to increase income or wealth in the future. Investors must choose among investments that have different risks and expected rates of return. Investments with higher expected rates of return tend to have greater risk. Diversification of investment among a number of choices can lower investment risk.

Name: Saving

Standard:

Students will understand that: Saving is the part of income that people choose to set aside for future uses. People save for different reasons during the course of their lives. People make different choices about how they save and how much they save. Time, interest
rates, and inflation affect the value of savings.